Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland maintain a range of traffic forecasts on all trunk roads in Scotland using the national transport model, the Transport Model for Scotland. It has a base year of 2014 and produces forecasts for a number of future years through to 2037. Future forecasts of demand are based upon a range of assumptions including population growth, fuel prices, economic activity and land-use changes. There is uncertainty associated with these assumptions which increases over time.As levels of uncertainty are greater than typical annual growth (see Scottish Transport Statistics Table 5.7(b)), forecasts are created at five yearly intervals.

Details of forecast traffic flows on the A720 Edinburgh Bypass are shown in the following table. As flows vary considerably around the bypass, the forecasts provided are for the west of Dreghorn junction which was selected to match the location of observed data reported in Scottish Transport Statistics Tables 5.7(a) and (b).

There is no national screening programme for oral cancer and no centrally held data on how many oral cancer screenings that have taken place in NHS Scotland.

In January 2016, the UK National Screening Committee, which advises Ministers and the NHS about all aspects of screening policy recommended not to introduce national screening for oral cancer because a reliable test has not yet been identified and there is not enough evidence to determine how well existing tests would perform in a national programme.

In 2015-16 just over three million adults received an NHS dental check-up in Scotland. Dentists examining the mouth look for any oral abnormality, including oral cancer. NHS dental check-ups are free in Scotland.

There is no national oral cancer screening programme in NHS Scotland or centrally held data on average waits for oral cancer screening.

However, validated data for Cancer Waiting Times Standards are published by NHS ISD quarterly. Data for median waits from referral to treatment and decision to treat to treatment for head and neck cancers (including oral cancers) can be accessed through the ISD website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp

The Scottish Government in partnership with boards is constantly evaluating current national and local systems to ensure they are still fit for purpose and resilient. For example in 2016 there has been a board level gap analysis of the critical controls needed to mitigate cyber-attacks.

Details of specific operating systems covered on a board by board bases are not held centrally and it would be the responsibility of individual health boards to provide this information.

The Local Government Financial Return (LFR3) collects information on income from client contributions for adults under 65 receiving Social Care services. This information is published in tables 4A and 4B of spreadsheet for the “Expenditure on Adult Social Care Services,

Scotland, 2003-04 to 2013-14” publication which can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/03/5885/downloads.

This information is not currently collected by the Scottish Government. The total number of people, broken down by age and by local authority, in receipt of telecare has been collected since 2011. See http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Health/Data/HomeCare/HSCDHomecare.

Data on how many young people have been refused treatment from child and adolescent mental health services is not held centrally.

Data on the number of referrals received and number of referrals rejected is collected and published on the ISD website (http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Child-and-Adolescent-Mental-Health/). Referrals rejected are referrals that do not meet the criteria for CAMHS intervention.

Charging guidelines for integration joint boards remain those issued by COSLA, as per S5W-04980 answered on 8 December 2016. These guidelines cover charging for non-residential social care services, which includes community alarms as a chargeable service.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Local authorities have a duty under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to assess a person’s community care needs and decide whether to arrange any required services.

Approximately 77,000 people in Scotland benefit from Free Personal Care, with more than 30,000 people in Care Homes and nearly 47,000 people living in their own home.

We take a broad approach to measuring the quality of care within our health service. Individual surgical units conduct morbidity and mortality meetings regularly, NSS Discovery allows appropriate benchmarking within and across Boards.

Our surgeons participate in a broad range of audits which are published and used to improve care. Some of these audits publish UK wide level consultant mortality data. In Scotland, we have seen surgical mortality fall by 24% in the last three years - partly as a result of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme.